


Horizons

by raininshadows



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 20:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20070415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raininshadows/pseuds/raininshadows
Summary: Aqua lived fifteen years alone in the dark, and that leaves scars.





	Horizons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Serie11](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serie11/gifts).

It turns out they can't go back to what the world used to be. Master Eraqus is dead. The Land of Departure is back to what it was before Aqua turned it into Castle Oblivion, but it's still empty in a strange and new way. For Ven, it's been no time at all; he slept for fifteen years, and remembers everything in fragmented dreams. Terra was awake, but was mostly subsumed into Master Xehanort. Aqua is the only one who truly lived fifteen years alone in the dark, and it takes some time for them all to realize how badly it's changed her. 

And then one day Terra says "Aqua?" from behind her and she screams and before he can react, she's already summoned her Keyblade and is ready to attack. Just as quickly, her Keyblade is gone and she starts apologizing. 

"No, I'm sorry," he says when she pauses for breath. "I shouldn't have startled you like that." 

"It's okay," she says, and sniffs. "You didn't know." Her eyes seem weirdly bright, and that's when Terra realizes she's crying. 

"I'm sorry," he says again, and then, because he can't think of anything better, "Do you want a hug?"

She nods, and then sniffs again, and Terra steps in to hug her and they stay like that for a while. "Some of the... creatures in the Realm of Darkness," she says finally, into his shoulder, "they knew my name. I forgot I wasn't there for a second." 

Terra can't think of anything to say, so he just keeps hugging her until they finally have to separate. 

So that's mostly how they learn what happened to Aqua in the Realm of Darkness. She never chooses to talk about it, but Terra and Ven can put some of the pieces together. Aqua hates reflective surfaces now - the same night they arrive back at the Land of Departure, every mirror is moved out of her room. She reflexively summons her Keyblade when she's startled. She spends as much time as possible in the light, outside in the sun during the day and inside the castle during the night; she even sleeps with the lights on, or sometimes she doesn't sleep at all and Terra finds her sitting at the kitchen table in the morning staring at the wood. It takes effort for her to smile now, where it used to come as easily as breathing. When they visit worlds that have fallen to the darkness before, making sure that everything is going as it ought to and no monsters are appearing, Aqua is twitchy and brittle. She expects Heartless to appear from rooftops in the Castle of Dreams, and at every corner of the Pride Lands. In fifteen years, Aqua saw every corner of the Realm of Darkness, searching for a way out and home. 

It's Ven's suggestion to try visiting other worlds - ones Aqua never saw in the Realm of Darkness or fought Unversed in, ones that were never corrupted and turned into broken shadows of themselves or hid monsters around every corner. There's disturbingly few of them, but eventually they settle on the world that Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion, and Namine all ended up moving to. Sora tells them that Twilight Town is a warm and cheerful place with the best restaurant in all the worlds, and night never falls there because the world is locked in a permanent sunset. It'll be a good place to visit, a world that has never known the all-consuming hunger of the Heartless. 

Roxas, Namine, and Xion meet them there. It's late afternoon, and school has just gotten out. The teenagers are still wearing their school uniforms, which are sober navy blue and black but still have more personality to them than the Organization XIII coats, and they are so happy to tell Terra and Ven and Aqua all about their new lives. Roxas is working through crafting a persuasive essay. Namine is in an advanced drawing class. Xion has discovered a talent for math. Lea is still working on learning the Keyblade with Yen Sid and Kairi. Isa has become Scrooge McDuck's personal assistant. Together they are introduced to the townspeople, meet Hayner, Pence, and Olette, and see every little nook and cranny that Twilight Town hosts for teenagers to hide out in. For the first time since they came back from the Keyblade Graveyard, Aqua doesn't seem to be looking behind her for enemies. 

The bistro is open late, spilling light out into a plaza that's already in Twilight Town's half-faded sunshine. The six of them drag together chairs around a table that's probably too small to fit all of them, and Aqua sits between Terra and Namine and they laugh together. Finally it's time for the Twilight Town teenagers to go home - it is, after all, a school night. Xion still seems slightly awed by the idea. Aqua, Terra, and Ven say their goodbyes and make ready for their return to the Land of Departure. 

Their passage through the space between worlds precludes conversation, but when they land, Aqua is still smiling. "That was nice," she says. "Thank you, Ven." 

That night, Aqua turns the lights off in her bedroom for the first time since she came back from the Realm of Darkness, and she sleeps.


End file.
